{"id":89911,"date":"2021-06-04T05:29:30","date_gmt":"2021-06-04T11:29:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=89911"},"modified":"2026-03-24T10:37:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T15:37:16","slug":"lark-sparrow-in-golden-morning-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/06\/04\/lark-sparrow-in-golden-morning-light\/","title":{"rendered":"Lark Sparrow In Golden Morning Light"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two days ago I photographed this adult Lark Sparrow that I found perched on an old fence post in golden light in the West Desert of Tooele County<\/span><\/a>. I’ve been seeing more Lark Sparrows out there than I have seen in previous years and I hope that is a good sign for this species.<\/p>\n

\"LarkLark Sparrow adult in golden light \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

In some areas of the arid foothills I have been seeing Lark Sparrows perched, mating, gathering materials, and singing<\/span><\/a> about every 50 to 100 feet. I’ve spotted them perched on rocks, on the ground, fences, fence posts, and at the top of junipers and shrubs.<\/p>\n

As much as I prefer natural perches I wasn’t about to pass up photographing this adult Lark Sparrow on the fence post because I liked the look of the weather worn wood in the marvelously warm golden light. I also appreciated the profile view of the harlequin pattern on the sparrow’s face.<\/p>\n

\"WestWest Desert junipers, mountains and clouds \u2013 Nikon D500, f6.3, 1\/2500, ISO 500, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 18mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

This time of the year I often hear Lark Sparrows singing before I see them. I look for these sparrows in the lower elevation foothills of the sky island mountains of the West Desert where there are plenty of junipers, sagebrush, and other shrubs. They can blend into their habitat quite easily so paying attention is of utmost importance when trying to find this sparrow species.<\/p>\n

I’m certain that before long I will see Lark Sparrows bringing food to their young and I hope that I am able to photograph some of their chicks when they start to leave the safety and security of their nests. I’ll be looking for them.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Lark Sparrow photos plus facts and information about this species. Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my flower, shrub and tree photos and here<\/span><\/a> for my Utah landscape photos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two days ago I photographed this adult Lark Sparrow that I found perched on an old fence post in golden light in the West Desert of Tooele County.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":135089,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,1465,358,26,1314],"tags":[4004,4372,4101,3830,898,5958,7017,4254,4109,3914,4674,2691,1539,4069,4104,4018,10452,855,4195,165,2690],"class_list":["post-89911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-lark-sparrows","category-tooele-county","category-utah","category-west-desert-utah","tag-adult","tag-chondestes-grammacus","tag-clouds","tag-fence","tag-fence-post","tag-fence-posts","tag-foothills","tag-golden-light","tag-grasses","tag-juniper","tag-junipers","tag-juniperus-osteosperma","tag-lark-sparrow","tag-mountains","tag-perched","tag-sky","tag-sky-island-mountains","tag-sparrow","tag-sparrows","tag-spring","tag-utah-juniper"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/lark-sparrow-golden-light-fence-post-mia-mcpherson-3329.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-nob","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":88689,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/05\/22\/nesting-lark-sparrow-photos\/","url_meta":{"origin":89911,"position":0},"title":"Nesting 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McPherson","date":"April 22, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday was a delight in the West Desert because there were plentiful birds to photograph including this male Spotted Towhee singing on its territory.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Spotted Towhee male singing on its territory in the West Desert of Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/spotted-towhee-mia-mcpherson-0007.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/spotted-towhee-mia-mcpherson-0007.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/spotted-towhee-mia-mcpherson-0007.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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Utah","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 10, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"This beautiful little Lark Sparrow was so busy singing that it was a very cooperative subject and I took quite a few images of it as it sang and changed positions on the gnarly old fence post.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Singing Lark Sparrow in northern Utah, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/lark-sparrow-singing-mia-mcpherson-1876.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/lark-sparrow-singing-mia-mcpherson-1876.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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